1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to user interfaces for video selection and display.
2. Related Art
In systems for presenting information, such as for example audiovisual media, there are now so many possible choices that individuals find it difficult to remember them all. Accordingly, such systems generally involve a UI (user interface) by which users might search for possible choices, with the effect that those users are able to select one or more choices for presentation. However, while they achieve the general goal of allowing users to search and select, known systems are subject to several draw-backs.
First, there are often such a large number of entries or titles that presenting even a small fraction of them for review by users, such as on an OSD (on screen display), or a video screen or similar interface, is unwieldy. Moreover, the large number of entries or titles makes it difficult for the user to make meaningful comparisons among multiple titles, either using a single data field for categorization, or using a plurality of data fields for categorization. In the latter case, the number of possible data fields and the fuzziness of the concept of similarity among entries or titles makes the task extremely problematic for users.
Some known systems allow users to sort lists of entries, but one result of such sorting is that the user is presented with a linear list of entries or titles, disposed in a fashion that is often difficult on the eye and relatively unhelpful for selection of an individual entry or title. This is a relatively greater drawback when many entries or titles have data fields that might be categorized into multiple groups. For example, many videos might be characterized as both “comedy” and “western,” or as both “action-adventure” and “mystery,” and the like. Some known systems allow users to search or sort entries by such categories, but the user's ability to locate entries with similar categories can be relatively limited, depending on the degree of sorting allowed and the number of sort keys allowed per entry.
This has the effect that only the most sophisticated users, those who are already very familiar with the corpus of possible entries or titles, can make meaningful use of combining database search techniques and linear presentation of information. There are several aspects of the invention in which this problem is ameliorated: (1) a relatively large corpus of information is sorted in such manner as to centralize and emphasize a set of similar entries or titles, possibly when considered along a plurality of data fields, (2) the user is presented with a focused-upon entry or title, with the option for causing the system to dynamically reorder those entries or titles in the corpus of information in response to the focused-upon entry or title, (3) those entries or titles having relatively greater similarity to the focused-upon entry or title are centralized and emphasized, with the effect that the user can easily and readily locate at least some entries or titles of interest, and (4) the user is presented with the ability to scroll through the presented mosaic of entries or titles, with the effect that the user is not restricted to a subset of the corpus of entries or titles when viewing the mosaic.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an improved user interface for video selection and display.